


the rock show

by sylvermyth



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AkuRoku Day, Alcohol, M/M, Podfic Available, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 01:36:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11795733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylvermyth/pseuds/sylvermyth
Summary: The thing about summer was:It was short.  It was hot and sticky and sometimes miserable, but mostly it was bright and wild and you couldn’t squander it because there was always something happening all the time (unless you worked nights and weekends, and then you were just SOL).  There was beer and pott and back yard barbeques, trendy pop-up gardens that made Axel feel both old and young at the same time, tiny grungy too-hot clubs, sweet sea salt ice cream that he couldn’t get over any more than he could get over Saix (but Roxas liked them, too), and the clatter of skateboards on concrete.





	the rock show

**Author's Note:**

> For the anon prompt: maybe meeting at a music festival?
> 
> At first I was like, ehhhh…. But then after a moment my mind supplied the Blink182 song. And then just ran with it, because I love the headlong, breathless euphoria of it, and also it’s summer and I couldn’t stop thinking about all the awesome rock festivals my coworkers used to go to (I’m a night and weekends worker lmao) that I only managed to hit once or twice, but really, it’s the kind of experience you never forget. Also I know it’s been done before, but *I* have never done it before, lol.
> 
> ANYWAY. HAPPY AKUROKU DAY Y’ALL. I had fun writing this, so I hope you enjoy.
> 
> NOW WITH ADDED FANART BY THE EVER-LOVELY [princess-wasabi!](http://princess-wasabiart.tumblr.com)
> 
>  

The thing about summer was:  
  
It was short.  It was hot and sticky and sometimes miserable, but mostly it was bright and wild and you couldn’t squander it because there was always something happening all the time (unless you worked nights and weekends, and then you were just SOL).  There was beer and pott and back yard barbeques, trendy pop-up gardens that made Axel feel both old and young at the same time, tiny grungy too-hot clubs, sweet sea salt ice cream that he couldn’t get over any more than he could get over Saix (but Roxas liked them, too), and the clatter of skateboards on concrete.  
  
Probably his favorite part were the festivals.  
  
Because it was summer they were open-air, sometimes in amphitheaters and sometimes open fields, with stages even more temporary than the season, and somehow though they were so fleeting, there was something timeless in the chaos, in the sun beating down until he yanked off his black shirt, in the press of bodies tumbling against each other to the cacophony of electric guitars and their own euphoric screaming.  
  
Axel wasn’t quite sure where he fit most of the time, with his lanky long legs and tattooed sleeves and bottle-dyed hair, because the world didn’t really give a damn for people like him, a jack-of-all-trades with a hipster job (but dog walking was lucrative enough) and a rebellious stage he never quite grew out of, a nicotine habit he never could quit.  But the festivals were his favorites, because he fit there, jigsaw edges aligned with dusty fields soaked in beer and sweat and music.  
  
The thing about festivals was:  
  
They were loud and noisy and a jumbled mess and as timeless as they were, they were still always the most ephemeral part of the summer, never a repeat performance or experience, never the same kind of high.  Always the same people, but never the same mistakes, and Axel knew all about mistakes.  
  
He knew if he lost someone in the crowd they would be gone, unless he managed to snag their number, and even then it wasn’t a guarantee he’d ever see them again.  He knew the haze of smoke and excitement and adrenaline and beer skewed perceptions, that the music was center stage except when it was least convenient, and he knew that not everyone was into guys.  
  
Let alone guys like him.  
  
But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try, if he had a mind to.  And maybe sometimes he didn’t, but if he was going to find a kindred spirit, the Warped Tour was as likely a place as any.  That’s not to say he was looking, but he didn’t need to look to see.  (Or maybe he was just blind.)  
  
The thing about Axel was:  
  
He could handle the mosh pit like a pro, but sometimes he just wanted to stand and listen and bask in the atmosphere, and sometimes he got a little too hot even after he’d shucked his shirt, a little too lightheaded from sun and alcohol and probably not enough water.  He’d stand off to the side or in the back, not too far but not quite close enough to get drawn back in before he was ready, and he was tall enough that he didn’t really have to worry about not being able to see.  
  
It was a little like his life, always rushing headlong and full tilt until he needed to stop for breath, and mostly he could see everything he wanted to see and he could hear well enough, even if it was only screaming.  
  
And maybe he said something along those lines, possibly yelled them into the open air just because he could and he felt good, but a person at his elbow yelled back, “What?” and Axel promptly forgot what he’d just said.  
  
Angelic euphoric face and tousled blond hair and eyes that held the depths of the sky, the gleam of sweat and a whiff of alcohol, and Axel probably would’ve missed him, he was so short, if not for the query.  
  
“I don’t know.”  And then, a little louder, “Can I buy you a drink?”  There was no lead-in, but he’d have to strain to be heard so close to the stage and it was marginally less loud at the beer stand, and anyway he needed to know yesterday if that was somewhere he could go with this guy.  A quirk of a smile and a laugh said he could, maybe.  
  
The thing about love was:  
  
Axel always fell fast and hard, a roaring fire that spat and burned in him, and sometimes it consumed and died out just as fast, but that was okay, for the most part.  Sometimes it wasn’t, but that was just life.  
  
The slow kindling of friends-to-maybe-more hadn’t really been a thought, was only a bare warmth for the longest time, gradually stoked into a flame that he hadn’t really noticed until it was too late, until Roxas was looking at him with sparkling eyes and a hesitant smile, and Axel thought of all the times he’d snuck in through the window when they were younger, just to hang out, and it had been so thoughtless and easy, so innocent.  
  
It wasn’t a mistake to love your best friend, the one who got lost in the crowd a little too easily, it was just how it went, and maybe there were a thousand moments like these that Axel had missed, but probably not because he was pretty sure he would’ve remembered.  Then again, he’d never seen Roxas look quite so beautiful as he did just now.  
  
The thing about Roxas was:  
  
He fit with Axel even better than the summer festivals.  He was prickly and maybe even more rebellious than Axel, and he didn’t follow Axel blindly even if they’d done all the stupid shit that best friends did together.  Axel had probably loved him forever, but it took the magic of a summer rock show to see it clearly, the haze of smoke a halo over his revelation.  
  
Roxas had always been more wary at giving himself away for the sake of love, less prone to the fireworks of a fling, so Axel expected the same resistance he’d seen Roxas show for others, maybe even more, because Axel didn’t exactly have the best track record in love.  
  
But then, they’d been wearing each other’s defenses down for years.  
  
They didn’t fit together perfectly, because Axel was a beanpole and Roxas was a sprout, and their lips were wet and clumsy and tasted like beer and sweat; they were gross and they stunk and it was too hot under the glare of the sun.  
  
But there was nothing better than watching the sun set together, screaming in glee for the next band to take the stage.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] the rock show](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13898436) by [sylvermyth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylvermyth/pseuds/sylvermyth)




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